A bright light shines through Daniella's eyes as she attempts to slowly blink. The luminousness of the light instantly blinds Daniella despite her careful attempts.

She decides to simply keep her eyes closed for a few seconds, but then a throbbing headache forces her to arise. It's only then that she senses that she's wearing a hospital gown... on a bed. The room she is in is stale with the scent of medical air freshener.

She tries to get up but feels a yank on her arm. She notices that there is an IV needle attached to the crease of her arm.

"Feeling better?" a voice calls out to her.

"Am I going insane? Where am I?" she asks herself. She rubs her eyes and finds a handsome man in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Daniella can't help but quickly check him out. "What a tall glass of almond milk." she remarks to herself.

"Good. You're awake. I'm Dr. Luka. L-U-K-A... an ER doctor."

Daniella blinks in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

Dr. Luka chuckles. "You must be completely out of it, huh?"

"You have no idea... I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

He chuckles again. "Luka. L-U-K-A. I'm here to check on you. How are you feeling?"

"Better. I think. I had a hard time getting up with the light. It's really, really bright."

"Hmmmm," observes Dr. Luka. "Let me see.... Do you remember your name? Do you remember the year? The country you're in? Who the President is?"

"Could I write it down?"

Dr. Luka hands her a piece of paper and a pen. She quickly jots down the answers and hands it to him. He reads the answers.

"Nice to meet you Daniella Spencer."

A nurse comes in and hands him a few sheets. He quickly skims them.

"Well, Daniella, your vitals look pretty good. And you passed with flying colors. Looks like you're in the clear."

Upon her arrival at the hospital, Daniella Spencer was approached with a combined rapid diagnosis. Just like any patient, she went through the ABC steps. A for airway, B for breathing and C for circulation. Yes Daniella's mouth, face, neck and chest were examined for any lacerations, bruises, and/or swelling. An examination of her skin, her face and her warmth proved satisfactory.... What could possibly be wrong with this girl?

A series of precise measurements of her vital signs were found satisfactory. No rashes or injection sites including deformities were found on her skin and her sides.

A neurological exam and ultrasound examination of her abdomen and bloodwork came back clear. there were no detection or signs of infection or skeletal muscle injury; no signs of metabolic issues! The CT scan of her brain, vertebral column, thorax and abdomen all came back satisfactory.

Yes! Daniella was a perfectly healthy young woman! In fact, she was above average!

A relieved Daniella smiles and then frowns. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"All my stuff... I don't have anything on me, do I?"

Dr. Luka looks through his notes. "I don't think so?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How did I get here?"

"Can I ask you a counter- question?"

"Sure, Doctor."

"What is the last thing you remember?"

Daniella combs through the tangled memories of her mind.

"I was at the airport." begins Daniella. "I was getting out of the car... I think, and then... Here I am."

"Well Ms. Spencer, you were found unconscious on the ground and brought here by ambulance. No one seems to have witnessed anything unusual prior to seeing you lying unconscious on the ground. Do you remember any unusual interaction or encounter with anyone... Have you ingested anything unusual or felt or done anything unusual? Of course, please let me remind you that anything you share with me will be kept confidential. So please feel free to share anything that would and could help you..."

Danella simply shakes her head. She can't recollect anything surreally unusual happening to her that would not put her at the top of the 100 most insane people of this hospital. Dr. Luka takes notes on his pad.

"Since you were out for a while, we decided to scan you for everything - vitals, MRI, the whole nine yard. You are perfectly fine, by the way. You were just extremely dehydrated, which is why you're hooked on the IV which is basically water and saline. You should be good to go as soon as you finish the packet."

"How long do you think that'll take?"

Dr. Luka looks at his watch and then at the IV packet. "About another hour."

"I should probably start with getting my belongings back..."

"If I were you, I'd start at the airport."

"I'll probably do that... but I don't have any way to get there."

"We have a hospital shuttle that goes to fetch cargo, supplies, and doctors. I could get you on the next shuttle, which should be leaving right after you finish your IV."

"You don't have to do that -"

"-But I want to. and besides, we do it all the time so don't worry about it. "

They share a smile with each other.

"Thanks," Daniella says as she looks at her IV bag.

"More patients are awaiting my attention. I'll leave you at your well-deserved rest and see you before you're discharged..." Dr. Luka waves at her and exits the room.

So it has been confirmed. There is nothing wrong with Daniella Spencer. Nothing wrong with her brain, and nothing wrong with her body in any shape or form.

Soon the door reopens and a nurse walks in with a tray of food.

Daniella receives a lunch tray, consisting of chocolate pudding, mashed potatoes with gravy, some green peas, meat,  a glass of water, and of course, orange juice. "This is probably the first time I've eaten in a while, huh? Well, should I start with desert, or with the main course?"

She grabs the chocolate pudding, removes the wrapping, and eats the pudding with a spoon. While she is extremely tempted to gulp the entire confection in one attempt, she restrains herself and resorts to practicing mindful eating... a habit that she hasn't utilized since she found herself in this... entanglement.

The chocolate is initially a lot sweeter than she anticipated. "Milk chocolate? Milk chocolate." she deduces. She is personally more of a dark chocolate fan, but she enjoys the treat nonetheless. She washes away the sweet taste with the glass of water before shifting her focus to the main course. There is nothing worse than a caocao coating messing with savory treats.

Pretty Daniella is done with everything including her lunch which is whisked away by another hospital personnel. Overall, Ms. Spencer is feeling much better and more invigorated than ever. Everything is much clearer and for once, the eternal sense of dread looming over her shoulder seems to dissipate immensely.

A nurse unhooks Daniella from the IV. As they had to cut her clothes in order to quickly identify and investigate any damage done to her body, the hospital arranged to pull some clothes from the lost and found, namely a tie-dye hoodie with a creepy smile, a pair of denim shorts of an appropriate length, and a pair of basic low rise converse sneakers...

...Something straight out of a Daniella Spencer's fashion nightmare scenario on any given weekend!

Daniella is surprisingly impressed with how the outfit looks on her! Does she look like she's an 18 year old in college all over again? Yes. Could she be potentially carded if she were to fetch an alcoholic drink? Absolutely. Is she comfortable? Of course! Was this look once listed at the top of her nightmarish weekend fashion outfits? The answer is a screaming YES!

She thanks the nurse as she begins to enter the empty hospital shuttle.

"Daniella!"

She turns her head and finds Dr. Luka. She gives him her attention. "Yes?"

"One last thing before you go: How do you feel?"

"I feel good, Dr. Luka."

"Good to hear! You seem to be doing much better as well! All of your tests came back satisfactory. Well, have a good and safe day!" with these words, Dr. Luka waves her goodbye one last time as the shuttle's doors closes and the vehicle starts moving away. Mimicking the doctor's hand gesture, Daniella watches his silhouette slowly fade away and everything is soon replaced by an army of cars speed racing on the busy roads and intersections.

Daniella curiously watches everything around her and on the roads as if life was unfolding for the first time before her eyes. She is actually looking for signs of familiarity and deja-vus. Nothing, absolutely nothing she is looking at is evoking any kind of emotional response. Everything outside of the car seems to be a brand new experience to all of her senses.

"Out of all the places, why did I end up hospitalized? Nothing is triggering any response out of me. Everything is going smoothly... why? What happened to my edge? To my adrenaline? Maybe I'm just trying too hard. Maybe I'm too desperate. At least I know for a fact that I'm not insane."

After thirty minutes on the road, the shuttle engages on the all-too familiar route to the airport. Daniella recognizes the path leading to the airport. A path she has taken numerous, if not at least a thousand times.

"I wonder where my luggage is. I hope I'm not going to have to pick a fight with someone because my things were tampered with."

An all too familiar scene automatically plays in her head:

At the baggage claim, Daniella discovers that her luggage was literally slashed. Taking an estimate based on her personal timeline with the luggage, it probably took place between the time she checked them in, and before she retrieved them after landing.

She walks up to the closest group of airline baggage delivery service workers and proceeds to scream at them. She can't completely remember what she said, but the muffled screaming was nothing but ferocious and merciless. She still sees their confused and fearful faces as they tried their best to reason with her, to plead with her, and to calm her down. Daniella does remember what she specifically said in this moment.

"I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR, OR MANAGER, OR WHOMEVER THE F**K IS IN CHARGE. NOW!"

Within seconds, the manager is fetched, and Daniella proceeds to scream at him as well. Despite their constant apologies, insistence that it was a rare accident, and her own observation that nothing was stolen or lost, she insisted that they were all "clueless", "pathetic", and "idiots".

Numerous travelers, families especially, gave Daniella dirty looks and shook their heads as they passed by. At this point, she's surprised she did not go viral on the internet because the views would have been ASTRONOMICAL. Hell, she would have made the news. At the moment, Daniella just wanted everyone to mind their own business and simply disappear.

"Hmmm. Looks like I got my wish after all." reflects Daniella.

Her memory jumps to Sweetheart, the teddy bear given to her by the same manager she just yelled at.

"Stupid f**king bear...what a bunch of idiots... what the f**k am I supposed to do with it? What am I, a 5-year-old child? This creepy bear thing is bullshit! Giving stuffed bears to grown adults should be canceled!!! " Daniella remarked as she threw it into the nearest trash can and continued to swear at the airline baggage delivery crew under her breath and went about the rest of her day in a very foul mood.

Daniella physically cringes at the thought of that monstrous episode. To her, it represents that absolute worst of her, an ultimate low point in her life.

"I never should have thrown away that teddy bear."

Concluding her thoughts, for now, she shuts off her mind and stares numbly at the window.

As the hospital shuttle arrives at the airport, however, Daniella is met with the shock of her life.

To be continued... 

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